Species textThe wolf spider Arctosa fulvolineata appears to be confined to a few saltmarshes around the Solent and on the coast of East Anglia. It is found under debris and stones at the top of saltmarshes, under lumps of mud and wet, tightly matted debris along the foot of the sea wall and under stones on the wet mud on the nearby marshes. It has also been found in cracks in the upper saltmarsh where saltpans had dried out and were unvegetated, and on pure shingle at Havergate Island. Such a large spider is unlikely to be overlooked, yet although Cooke (1961) reported considerable numbers at Colne Point and the marshes bordering the Stour Estuary at Wrabness, it was not refound at these sites despite extensive searches until finally at Colne Point in 2004 under debris on tidal mud in two areas adjacent to the track between the car park and the chalets. In the construction and maintenance of sea defences, the strip of land immediately in front of the sea wall is very vulnerable to being covered with spoil or at best severely disturbed. There has been extensive work in the past to raise sea wall defences at this and other parts of coastal Essex, and suitable habitat for this spider may have been largely lost. Sea level rise and coastal defence improvement are likely to increasingly threaten this and other coastal species. References